How to Shop for New Fabric Blends

As you may have already noticed, there's a lot more clothing made of blends of fibers in stores this season. Mixed fiber garments and home goods are nothing new but now items that used to be made primarily of 100% cotton, like tees and towels, will be made of cotton mixed with polyester, spandex, or rayon. This trend is most likely due to the high price of cotton, but does help manufacturers incorporate desirable performance properties like stain and shrink resistance into clothing. While polyester, spandex, and rayon are quite familiar, I've been seeing a lot of less well known rayons like Lyocell, Tencel, and Modal on clothing labels. To help you know what you're buying, here's what you should know about these fabrics.

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Let's start with Rayon. It's a product of the cellulose of wood pulp or cotton, which is processed into a solution and extruded into a fiber. It has a very silky feel but one drawback is that it generally requires dry cleaning. Lyocell is a type of rayon derived from wood pulp which can come from a variety of trees including oak and birch. Lyocell is very smooth to touch and it's very resistant to wrinkling and shrinkage. Tencel is the brand name for lyocell. Like lyocell, Modal comes from wood pulp but it always comes from beech trees. Modal is not as stiff as cotton and has an attractive and wears well. Care instructions for modal vary by manufacturer but it can generally be machine washed on d on the gentle cycle.